Behind the Façades in France: What expats and the mainstream media (French and American alike) fail to notice (or fail to tell you) about French attitudes, principles, values, and official positions…

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Obama's Healing Foreign Policy: "The United States has no allies, only targets or vassals"

The Americans must understand that they can not treat us like Iran or Syria!

While
the BBC reports US intelligence chief James Clapper denying reports that US spies recorded data from as many as 70 million phone calls in France in a single 30-day period, one of the ruling socialist party's leaders in the National Assembly says that "The United States has no allies, only targets or vassals":

A very strong response is needed, as advocated by the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister. But the situation is not an easy one, because our reaction can only come within the political and diplomatic realm. Indeed, it can not be legal because in the field of intelligence, the law will always be slower than technology, and international law proves incomplete.

However, it is extremely important to remind the United States that we are allies, and that since the birth of their nation. However, we can not behave towards allies as we do towards opponents or enemies. Such a relationship involves trust and reciprocity. The Americans must understand that they can not treat us like Iran or Syria!

Ultimately, this new twist reveals that the United States does not have allies, it only has targets or vassals. France is neither one nor the other. We felt that our discussions were on a balanced level, clearly this is not the case. This requires a readjustment and an uncompromising development.

The paper laid out how US spies used computer bugs and phone-tapping
techniques to monitor French diplomats at the UN and in Washington.

German magazine Der Spiegel had previously reported the
monitoring of French diplomats, and the Washington Post had revealed the
existence of a global cyber-spying programme called Genie.

But Le Monde's story gives details of how US agents used the
intelligence, apparently gathered from French diplomats under the Genie
programme.

It quotes a document issued by a directorate of the NSA as
stating that the data helped the US sway a Security Council vote on a
resolution imposing new sanctions on Iran on 9 June 2010.
The US had apparently feared losing the vote, and needed French support.

The document quotes America's former UN envoy Susan Rice as
saying the NSA's information helped the US "keep one step ahead in the
negotiations".